Waiting
by Moya-chan
Summary: Zoro finds him first. Deathfic drabble with spoilers to recent chapter 556. No pairing. Characters: Luffy, Zoro, Ace.


**Title:** Waiting  
**Chapter:** 1 / 1  
**Fandom: **One Piece  
**Pairing and characters:** No pairing; Zoro, Luffy, Ace  
**Rating:** PG?  
**Warnings:** Spoilers to recent chapters (around 556) and from there it goes AU. Character death.  
**Beta:** Ryua

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Zoro finds him first.

He doesn't know how it all went down exactly, knows only the overall events but no details. He thinks no one will ever know except for people who have been there and actually survived the blood bath.

Luffy is sitting at the cliffside, his legs tucked underneath him and he's looking at the horizon. The sunset around them brings peace to the world, as if the massacre from two weeks back never happened. The sun is hiding behind the horizon slowly, setting down with deliberate laziness and painting the surroundings with red and orange hues. So much like dying fire.

He sits down next to his captain, though one of the questions in his head is if the boy would ever want to set sail again.

Zoro knows that all things that have happened during their journey brought a lot of heartache and worry into their lives – Nami's slavery to Arlong, Vivi's pain for her country, Robin's past. He knows that Luffy had faced all of the obstacles, all of their histories with determination and undying resolve.

But this, this was personal. This was Luffy staring into horizon, not really acknowledging the fact that his first mate, who had been lost for weeks, has finally found his way back to hm. This is Luffy, who looks young, younger then he really is, who looks defeated and hopeless. This is Luffy, who is holding a string of red beads in numb fingers, staring into the fiery sunset with eyes hollow and dry, as there are no more tears to shed.

Zoro doesn't know the details. He only knows what he heard from doubtful third parties, he knows what he had read in the newspapers that were conveniently edited under Word Government's attentive care. He knows most pirates from New Era met their not-so-honorary end at Marinefort, as well as many Marines themselves. He knows world changed two weeks ago and frankly, he doesn't know how he will fit into new concept of 'justice' and 'crime'.

But it doesn't matter right now.

Zoro also knows Marines never stuck to their plan. He had heard stories from the rare survivors, stories that filled him with bitterness and heartache for his captain. He heard how Ace managed to get away from guards, using the surrounding waves of chaos as his chance. He knew that the Fire-Fist made it almost to Whitebeard's main ship, Luffy shielding his sides when the Marine plan was executed.

Sengoku never allowed his prized prisoner escape.

He doesn't know much details and he is not sure how many of the things he had heard are true, but some event seemed to be occurring in all of the tales. Of Gol D. Roger's son falling to his knees, still cuffed in the seastone shackles, as Sengoku's bullet pierced his chest, the blood of the cursed father spilling into the battleground. The sound of shooting ran clear even throughout the roar of the fight.

There was no logia to fix the damage, there was no medic fast enough to heal the wound. Zoro heard the story of Fire-Fist's death in his brother's arms and cringed every time the image came to his mind.

Then Whitebeard mourned the loss of his son and awakened his full power and the world changed.

Zoro is sitting silently next to his captain as the sun finally sets and there is only the darkness around them. In the corner of his eye he can see movement in the woods but somehow knows that even the woodland's predators won't approach them today.

He will never ask what happened after that fateful moment, nor he will ask what happened to Ace's body. He didn't know the pirate very well, but he meant a world to his captain and that's what counted. He will wait until Luffy decides to tell him, because that's what friends are for.

Luffy' fingers are absent-mindedly rolling the beads in between them and Zoro chases away the thought of red stains on the spheres, fearing that the sight might haunt him forever.

He sits silently and waits for Luffy to give him a sign that he's still there, still somewhere hidden and hurting in that shell of a man that rests next to him. He sits and waits and will continue to do so and shielding his captain from any harm that might come until Luffy decides it's time to either move on or abandon their dreams. He knows he will support any decision the boy makes.

Because that's what first mates do.


End file.
